Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), such as that described in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) request for comment (RFC) 2131, 3315 and 3633, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety, relate to mechanisms for automating delegation of IPv4 and/or IPv6 prefixes from a delegating router (DHCP server) to a requesting router (DHCP client). The delegating router may be associated with a service provider or other service providing entity tasked with facilitating Internet or other network-based messaging between and outside network, such as but not necessary limited to the Internet, and an inside network, such as but not necessary limited to a local or home network. The service provider may be allocated or otherwise assigned a plurality of IPv6 addresses or other domain of addresses from which individual addresses may be allocated for use by devices connected to the inside network. The service provider may be configured to facilitate messaging between the outside network and any number of inside networks using the allocated addresses.
To ensure devices connected to each inside network receive unique IPv6 addresses, the service provider may sub-delegate certain prefixes to customer edge routers (CERs), edge routers (ERs) or other requesting routers responsible for interfacing signaling between the outside network and the inside network. The prefixes may define separate addressing ranges to ensure unique addresses are available for use over each of the inside networks corresponding with each device receiving a prefix. The service provider may sub-delegate the particular prefixes to the requesting routers of each inside network in a process commonly referred to as prefix delegation. Once the prefixes are delegated to each inside network, the requesting router (ER) of each inside network may then be responsible for additionally sub-delegating the prefixes to internal routers (IRs) or other devices necessary to facilitate communications between customer premise equipment (CPE) or other connected devices and the ER or another upstream IR.
The ERs and IRs may perform prefix sub-delegation in a manner similar to that described above to facilitate delegating the prefixes received from an upstream router to one or more downstream routers (IRs). The delegation process may correspond with an upstream router acting as a delegating router and one or more downstream routers acting as requesting routers where the delegation-requesting relationship repeats for each layer of routers. In this manner, after the one or more prefixes are delegated to an inside network, the ER of the inside network may be required to further sub-delegate that prefix to additional IRs which, in turn, may be required to yet further sub-delegate received prefixes to additional IRs. Accordingly, regardless of whether the prefix is being delegated from the service provider of an outside network to an ER of an inside network, or from an ER of an inside network to an IR of the inside network, multiple prefix delegations may occur. The present invention contemplates a need to facilitate unmanaged or self-configuration where the process of delegating and sub-delegating prefixes may be automated or otherwise dynamically performed.